Memories
by TheseusLives
Summary: This is a sequel to "Brothers United". This story is in Theseus's POV and follows his travels to Greece with Annabeth and Percy. Some Percabeth and plenty of Theseus & Athena.
1. The Oath

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and Olympians.

_**Story: Memories!**_

Chapter 1: The Oath

Athena and I walked out of the infirmary and made our way to the lake.

"So which sister are you going to talk to?" I asked hoping that I already knew the answer.

Athena looked at me and smiled that knowing smile that I loved. "Theseus, you know exactly which sister I'm going to talk to."

I smiled and then said, "I just wanted to hear you say it?"

"Alright, I have to talk to Artemis about something extremely important." Athena said looking very frustrated.

"Alright, would you mind if I came with you, I do need to talk to Zeus about two sons of Poseidon flying to Greece." I said trying to make her feel a little more at ease, but not too much.

"Your enjoying this aren't you?" Athena said accusingly.

"Considering I was trapped in a rip in time and space for three thousand years I should enjoy any and everything that I can." I said trying to sound hurt by her tone.

"Well stand next to me and we'll get this over with" Athena said. The area around us began to glow, I closed my eyes and when I opened them we were on Mount Olympus just outside the thrown room. It was a lot different than I remembered. I could see the new construction work proceeding all around us.

"I see Annabeth has been pretty busy trying to get this place back up and running after the titan war." I said.

Athena looked around and smiled. I could tell she was proud of the work Annabeth had put into the reconstruction. "Yes, she has, lets find Artemis" Athena said.

We entered a garden just outside the thrown room and there standing at the other end of the garden was Artemis and standing next to her was a young woman probably around fifteen or sixteen with dark black hair and electric blue eyes. I followed Athena over to where they were standing. Artemis nodded and said, "Athena good to see you sister."

"Lady Athena nice to see you again." The dark haired young woman said.

"Theseus it is you, how?" Artemis said before Athena could introduce me.

"Hello, Artemis you must have been out hunting, I would of thought Apollo would have told everyone from here to Tartarus by now." I said trying to hide my smile. I told her a brief summary of my recent adventures.

"The Theseus!" The dark haired young woman said.

"Oh, I'm sorry this is my lieutenant Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. Thalia, this is Theseus, first demigod son of Poseidon."

"A pleasure Thalia, my brother Percy has told me a lot about you." I said.

"Hopefully its all good or I'll make that kelp face pay." Thalia said.

"It was all good, pine cone face." I said while chuckling to myself.

Thalia laughed with me as we turned to look at Artemis and Athena.

"Theseus and Thalia, could you excuse us, I need to speak with Artemis about an important issue." Athena said.

"Alright, Thalia , I need to speak with your father do you think you could take me to him?" I said.

"Sure, follow me." Thalia said. I could tell she could take a hint. We walked out of the garden toward the thrown room. I looked over my shoulder and prayed to the gods that the two sisters wouldn't destroy such a beautiful garden. I followed Thalia and she took me into the thrown room and pointed to Zeus sitting on his thrown. He was sitting alone and looked like he was lost in thought.

"I'll let you go in I need to check on the other huntresses." Thalia said as she left the room.

I walked into the thrown room and as I approached Zeus, he saw me and said, "Theseus it is good to see you, Apollo told me what happened. Thank you for helping Poseidon defeat Oceanus."

"Well, it is good to see you too uncle and as you know, I would do anything to help my father and Atlantis." I said.

"Well, is this a social visit or are you here on business." Zeus said.

"Well, I would like to fly to Greece with Percy and Annabeth. I have some things I want to do and I thought they could learn a few things about our history." I said.

"So you want my guarantee, that I won't blow you out of the sky, right." Zeus said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Yes, that would make the trip end on a bad note." I said with the same hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, I guess it would. You have my permission and my promise that the three of you will be safe to fly to Greece and back." Zeus said.

"Thank you, uncle." I said gratefully. 

"Where is Athena, I thought she would be hanging..." Zeus was saying before I cut him off and said, "Athena is in the garden talking to Artemis about an important issue."

Zeus thought about that for a moment and then he became wide eyed and I could tell he knew what the important issue was. "You don't say!" Zeus said looking out the window that faced the garden.

As if in response to our focus on the garden we heard two people shouting at the top of their lungs at each other. Zeus and I raced to the door of the thrown room and ran outside into the garden. There in front of us we saw Artemis and Athena both red in the face yelling at each other. There was so much energy and heat coming off of them that the flowers in the garden were wilting under the strain.

"You took an oath, you can't just break it like that!" Artemis screamed snapping her fingers to emphasize her point.

"You know damn well the only reason I took the oath was because I thought he was dead." Athena yelled.

Suddenly there was a bright golden light and Aphrodite appeared in front of both Artemis and Athena. "Artemis please you know that Athena has loved Theseus for over three thousand years." Aphrodite said.

"Stay out of this you slut!" Artemis said giving Aphrodite a look like drop it or you'll pay.

"Enough, I order both Athena and Artemis into the thrown room to work this out. Aphrodite I know you mean well but your presence here clearly hasn't helped matters, please leave this to me. Theseus please stay out here in the garden until we return."

Aphrodite nodded and disappeared into a shower of gold. Athena and Artemis followed their father into the thrown room both looking like they were about to be grounded for a thousand years. I stayed out in the garden for what seemed like forever until a familiar voice said, "Theseus is that you?" I turned around and saw my best friend, it was Herakles, he looked good. He still looked like a modern day bodybuilder with his dark hair, dark beard and piercing blue eyes. I ran over to him and he gave me a big hug.

"Herc, you can let me go now or your gonna crush me." I was barely able to say it because of the crushing bear hug he was giving me.

"Its so good to see you my friend, Apollo told me what happened but I couldn't believe it." Herakles said.

"Its great seeing you here too. I guess we're both immortal now." I said.

"My way was easier, it didn't take three thousand years." Herakles said jokingly.

"Well my father isn't the king of the gods." I said.

"I heard screaming coming from the garden, so I ran over here as soon as I could." Herakles said.

"Well, Artemis and Athena were having an argument" I said.

"Over you I take it." Herakles said not even trying to hide his amusement.

"Does everyone up here know about my love life?" I said.

"Well, with Apollo and Aphrodite running around I'm pretty sure everyone knows." Herakles said sarcastically.

Herakles and I talked for a good hour, recalling our past exploits and all the fun we had as young men.

"Sorry I have to break this up but I have to help Hephaestus with his swordsmanship in ten minutes, I best be on my way. Its been great seeing you, we need to get together again sometime." Herakles said.

"Herc, good seeing you as well, take care my friend." I said.

As soon as Herakles left, the doors to the thrown room opened and Athena ran out towards me. "Artemis agreed to let me out of the oath." Athena said happily.

"Just like that!" I said.

"Well, father and Artemis want to talk to you now." Athena said.

I walked into the thrown room and there were Artemis and Zeus waiting for me.

"Theseus, please come in, we need to talk." Zeus said.

"As you have probably guessed, Athena has asked Artemis to release her from her oath of maidenhood. Well, Artemis has agreed as long as you tell us your intentions with my daughter." Zeus said.

"Uncle, my intentions are to ask your daughter to marry me but first she needs to be free from the oath and I want your permission to ask her, in conformance with the ancient traditions." I said.

"Well, I release her from the oath, but you will be good to my sister." Artemis said. The look she gave me showed that she meant that warning.

Zeus looked at me and smiled, "You have my permission to marry Athena." Zeus said.

"Thank you, I do have one favor to ask both of you, though." I said.

"What is this favor?" Zeus asked.

"Can you keep what I just told you a secret, I do not want this to get out before I ask her." I said.

Zeus and Artemis looked at each other and then looked at me.

"You have my word nephew. I swear on the river Styx I will not tell anyone about your intentions with Athena." Zeus said and after him Artemis repeated the same oath.

"Thank you both very much." I said

They both nodded and I ran out the side door toward the garden. Waiting for me in the garden was Athena. I ran to her and gave her a big hug, "You are free from the oath." I said.

"What did they ask you?" Athena said

"They asked if I loved you." I said hoping that she couldn't tell I was lying.

"What did you say?" Athena asked with a smirk on her face.

I looked at her and smiled and then I said the one thing she didn't expect, "Athena, I love you!" Then I gave her a passionate kiss, when we finally broke apart it took us a few moments to collect ourselves.

"Take me back to camp, I have a trip to Greece to get ready for." I said.

With that we dissolved into an aura of gold and materialized in front of the lake at camp.

_**I hope you liked this first chapter to the sequel to "Brothers United", entitled, "Memories". The majority of this story will be in Theseus's POV.**_


	2. Journey Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and Olympians.

Chapter 2: Journey Home

I hugged Athena and said, "I know you have things to do, I'll be alright, I will make preparations for the trip, I promise to take care of Annabeth as if she was my little sister."

"You better and make sure you watch that brother of yours, he's a teenager with all of the hormones in overdrive." Athena said.

"I remember that age, I'll make sure they behave. Take care my love and I'll see you in Greece." I said. I kissed her and she disappeared in a bright golden light.

I walked to the big house to speak with Chiron. We made preparations for the plane trip to Greece. We would be leaving tomorrow afternoon. "Theseus, how long will you be gone?" Chiron said.

"Two weeks, I want to visit some of my old stomping grounds and I think Annabeth and Percy will have fun as well." I said.

"Alright, so you will start your training duties when you get back?" Chiron asked.

"Yes, we'll have another four weeks of summer when I return, so that should give me a little time to get some training in. At least enough to prepare the young heroes for next summer." I said.

I said goodbye to Chiron and headed for the Poseidon cabin. I didn't have a lot of clothes with me, but Poseidon gave me enough money for the flight and some other items including clothes. I packed what little I did have and I was ready for the trip tomorrow. As I finished packing, Percy came into the cabin and began packing as well. I think Annabeth was also thinking of the trip because she came into our cabin carrying her duffel bag.

"Packed already, wise girl." Percy said as Annabeth entered.

"Yes, seaweed brain, I see your still trying to get organized, here let me help." Annabeth said. She walked over to see what he had packed and was clearly amused. She started to move things out of his bag and add others.

"How would you ever get along without me." She said.

Percy just looked at her, smiled and said, "I guess I would be hopelessly lost and clueless."

I laughed as I walked out of the other room, "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting." I said.

They both stopped smiling at each other and went back to packing.

"No problem Theseus, I was just showing Percy the correct way to pack for a trip." Annabeth said. I saw her face turn red as she looked at Percy.

"Well its getting late, you and Percy need your sleep. I think its time you went back to your cabin for the night." I said.

"Alright, Percy see you tomorrow. Bye, Theseus." Annabeth said. She hugged Percy as she walked out the door. I waved to her as she left. Percy and I went to sleep, all I could dream about was Greece and all the incredible adventures that I had there.

I woke up the next morning and got ready to leave. I woke Percy up to make sure he was ready to go. I helped him finish packing and then we went to breakfast. Afterwards, Percy, Annabeth and I left with our bags and met Argus by the border of camp. The ride to the airport was uneventful. As we boarded our flight, I made sure that our three seats were together and of course Annabeth got the window. Percy sat in the middle and I was on the aisle seat. As we took off on our many hour flight to Athens, Percy asked me a question, I guess he had overheard Athena and I, "Theseus, I heard the nicknames that you and Athena gave each other."

"What nicknames?" Annabeth asked.

"Alright, my nickname for Athena has always been bird brain, I guess you know why. The owl his one of her symbols and of course she is a brain. Well, Athena always called me sandals because of these." I said showing off my extremely old sandals that I have repaired a thousand times.

"I can understand the bird brain, that makes sense and its funny, but sandals." Annabeth said.

"Well, its a long story!" I said.

"Come on, Theseus we're not going any where, tell us." Percy said excitedly.

"Alright, well it all started many years ago" I said starting a story that I hoped would tell them the importance of these sandals.

_Over 3,000 years ago in ancient Greece._

This story begins in the kingdom of Troezen, at this time the part of Greece known as Attica, which included Athens. It was an area of Greece that was controlled by separate city-states. King Pittheus of Troezen had a daughter her name was Aethra, she was betrothed to King Aegeus of Athens. King Aegeus was the founder of the city of Athens and the first great king of the city. A week before Aethra was to leave for Athens to meet her betrothed she was visited by the sea god Poseidon, who had been admiring her beauty for years. Aethra and Poseidon made love that evening and conceived a child. Aethra the next night was visited in her bed chamber by her betrothed Aegeus. Against tradition Aegeus and Aethra made made love that evening. When Aegeus left and went back to Athens, he was seduced by Medea the former queen of Corinth who had slaughtered the children of the legendary hero Jason. Aegeus broke off the engagement with Aethra and eventually married Medea. When Aegeus found out that Aethra was pregnant he placed a pair of sandals and his celestial bronze sword under a large boulder. He told Aethra that if the child was hero enough to move the boulder and claim the sandals and sword then he should make his way to Athens. The child in question was me, Theseus.

Fifteen years later, I was about to turn fifteen years old. I had been off training since I was eight with Chiron. You see there wasn't a camp half blood in these days. Chiron was a trainer of heroes, not just demigods but sons of kings as well. One day I was sword training with one of my best friends, Pirithous, when Chiron arrived to tell me important news.

"Nice try, Pirithous but your just a little too slow!" I said.

"Well, the next time I will have you for sure." Pirithous said.

We locked swords together and out of the corner of his eye Pirithous saw Chiron gallop over to us. That slight distraction was all I needed, I kicked him in the stomach and knocked his sword out of his hand. Then I kicked his feet out from under him and as he sat on the ground, I laughed and said,"Your clearly not going to best me today my friend."

"Good job Theseus, nice form." Chiron said.

"Pirithous, stay focused, even a slight distraction can be deadly in battle." Chiron said bending over to help Pirithous to his feet.

'If you don't mind Pirithous, I need to speak with Theseus." Chiron asked.

"No problem sir, see you around Theseus." Pirithous said.

"Take care my friend." I said.

"What do you need to talk to me about, sir?" I asked.

"Theseus, you have proven to be one of the most elite warriors I have ever trained. I just wanted to let you know that, as you will be leaving tomorrow. It is your fifteenth birthday tomorrow and you are ready to fulfill whatever destiny the Fates have in store for you. Your mother has contacted me, she would like you to stop by Troezen after you leave here." Chiron said.

"I don't know what to say, these seven years have been the greatest times of my life. I owe you so much. Thank you, Chiron for being such a great teacher and friend, sir." I said

"You do not have to call me sir anymore son, remember your training and you will do fine. I have to go to archery training, I will see you tomorrow before you leave." Chiron said trying to hide the sadness in his voice.

I nodded and walked over to the barracks, I started to pack my belongings. I thought of the other great heroes who left training in a similar way. Herakles was the main hero I remembered. I was twelve when Herakles left training to go out in the world. He was always like a brother to me. He was such a great hero now, the best in the world. I wanted to be like him and deep down inside I knew I could be a great hero. However, I had my doubts, I wasn't a demigod, my father was the king of Athens. How could I compete with Herakles when his father was Zeus himself? I thought about this until I fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke. I finished packing my belongings and walked to the edge of the training grounds. Chiron was standing there waiting for me.

"Good morning Theseus, I hope you slept well. You have a big day ahead of you." Chiron said.

"Good morning Chiron. I slept alright, though I was wondering do you think that I could ever be as good a hero as Herakles? My father is just a mortal after all." I said.

"Theseus my boy, you will be a great hero. It doesn't matter if your father is a god or just a man. A hero is about courage, skill and determination. You have more of these three qualities than any hero I have ever trained. Stay true to yourself and you will always prevail." Chiron said as he gave me a big hug.

"Thank you, I will" I said. I walked out of the training grounds into the world to face all of its promise and its dangers.

I walked for several hours until I reached the kingdom of Throezen, my boyhood home. I walked to the palace where my uncle was now king and before I could enter I saw my mother in the garden. When she saw me she ran over and gave me a big hug.

"Theseus, its so good to see you my boy, you have grown so much." Aethra said.

"Thank you, mom its good to see you as well." I said.

"Well, I'm glad Chiron sent you this way, there is something that you need to see." My mother said motioning for me to follow her to the edge of the palace. There sitting next to the palace wall was a large boulder. It probably weighed three to four hundred pounds.

"Son, when you were old enough your father asked me to have you move this boulder to check and see if you were a worthy hero." My mother said.

I reached down grabbed the boulder. I lifted the boulder using my legs and pushed with my arms the boulder easily moved out of the way and under the boulder sat a pair of sandals and a gleaming bronze sword. I put on the sandals and looped the sword through my belt strap.

"You did it son, I knew you would." My mom said.

"It was easy." I said.

"Now you must be off to Athens, your father said that when you moved the boulder you would be ready to join him there." My mom said.

I kissed my mom and headed down the road to Athens, my mom thought I would take a boat trip to Athens which was the safest. Instead I took the dangerous land route to Athens. My mother had warned me that this road was full bandits, marauders and other evil beings. That was all I needed to know, if I was going to be a hero I needed to face these dangers and triumph. I continued down the road to Athens and I came across a large man standing in the road holding a large celestial bronze club. All around him were bodies crushed into the ground.

"Hello, young one, my name is Periphetes." He said.

"My name is Theseus, I wish to travel to Athens. I do not want to fight you, please let me pass." I said.

"Such a polite boy, you can only pass if you best me in battle." Periphetes said.

"So be it!" I yelled.

Periphetes raised his club and charged after me. I knew that I had to be faster than him, he was too strong and that club was incredibly dangerous. I moved out of his way at the last moment and the club hit a large rock splitting it in half. I turned around and faced him again. He was getting mad now I could see the fire in his eyes and the blood pumping through the veins in his head. He charged again, this time I barely moved in time as the club slammed into the ground causing a fissure to open up. I noticed that he was starting to get tired, his arms started sag under the weight of the club. He charged me one more time and this time I was able to place my right foot in just the perfect spot to trip him. Periphetes was thrown off balance and the weight of the club propelled him forward toward a large boulder. Instead of hitting the boulder with the club, he hit his head, knocking him unconscious, he dropped the club and it rolled over within inches of my feet. I had won my first battle and it didn't take strength like Herakles, instead it took brains. This was a lesson that I wouldn't soon forget. I picked up the club and tied a rope to both ends to use as a sling. As I was about to leave, Periphetes charged me when my back was turned. However, my training with Chiron had honed my senses, I knew he was coming. Right before he could attack me I pulled out the club and hit him straight on the head crushing his skull and sending him at least three feet into the loose soil. He was dead of course and some would say it was poetic justice. However, I did not feel good about it. This was the first person that I had killed and....

_Back to the present_

"Sir would you like something to drink?" The flight attendant said snapping me back from my memories and the story I was telling Percy and Annabeth.

"Yes, I would like some ice water, please" I said trying not to sound too distracted.

Percy and Annabeth both ordered cokes, of course.

"Theseus are you going to finish the story?" Percy said and I could see Annabeth nodding her head in agreement.

"Alright, where did I stop?" I said.

_**I hope you liked this chapter, the name of the story is "Memories" so we will be hearing more of Theseus's adventures as we travel through Greece. The next chapter will finish Theseus's first adventures on his way to Athens.**_


	3. Athens

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, also I don't own the ancient greek myths either.

Chapter 3: Athens

"Theseus are you going to finish the story?" Percy said and I could see Annabeth nodding her head in agreement.

"Alright, where did I stop?" I said.

"Right after you defeated Periphetes." Annabeth said.

Periphetes, yes, well I'll continue." I said.

_Over 3,000 years ago in ancient Greece_

Periphetes was the first person that I ever killed. I wish I could tell you that he would be the last. I continued down the road to Athens with Periphete's club strapped to my back. I walked for about an hour and I was about to go around a blind curve in the road when I spotted five men hiding behind a boulder peeking out toward the clearing up ahead. The clearing was surrounded by tall thin pine trees. The men motioned for me to come to them.

"Boy, get over here before he sees you?" One of the men said.

"My name is Theseus, what's going on here?" I said.

"There is a robber in that clearing, he's terribly strong and nasty. See those bodies littering the clearing up ahead." He said.

"Yes, I see them." I said. It was a gruesome sight, bodies strewn all over the clearing, it appeared that they had been ripped to pieces by something.

"Did he tear them to pieces with his hands?" I asked.

"No he defeats them in combat and then ties them two trees. One of the trees he makes sure to bend over when he ties the person to it. When he's ready, he lets go of the tree and the person is ripped apart between the trees." The man said.

"That's terrible this guy is a real monster. It is bad enough he steels from travelers, but he kills them in such a horrible way." I said not even trying to hide my disgust for this robber.

I walked passed the men, they tried to hold me back but I went forward, I had to put an end to this robber.

"Awe boy, I hope you are ready to pay my price to proceed. My name is Siris, I will take your money and teach you a lesson in return." Siris said.

"Well, I think you're the one who needs a lesson." I said.

With that said Siris took out his sword and the fight was on. He swung his sword at me wildly, but I easily dodged his blow. He came forward and stabbed, I blocked his sword easily. He was starting to get mad, he wasn't a bad swordsman, he was just clumsy and relied too much on his strength. I must admit he was pretty strong. Still I couldn't believe he could so easily defeat all of these travelers. Then he did something that I didn't expect. He had on a glove of some type on his left hand. I thought he was going to try to hit me at first when he brought his left hand up as he thrust his sword forward. Instead, when his left hand was at my eye level a cloud of smoke flew out of the glove and struck me in the eyes. It burned terribly and I couldn't see at all. Now I knew why he had won so many battles, he was a cheat.

"Now you will learn your lesson young one." Siris said.

He swung his sword at me but I had trained for just such an occurrence during my time with Chiron, I instinctively felt the movement of the air as he swung his sword and I easily ducked out of the way. He tried to thrust forward and again I felt the movement in the air and I blocked his sword.

"How are you doing that?" Siris said with anger and frustration evident in his voice.

"Well I guess you're not as tough as you think if a blinded boy can fight you to a standstill." I said. I knew this would make him angry. I hoped he would be angry enough to make a mistake.

"Shut up, fool!" He yelled. He ran toward me with his sword extend like a staff ready to run me through. Unfortunately for him, I heard his loud footsteps on the rocky ground and I felt his movement through the air. I timed my response perfectly, as he approached I dropped to the ground and extended my right leg. I caught his right foot and I lifted him in the air. When he hit the ground his sword flew out of his hand and the wind was knocked out of him. At that moment the five men who were hiding ran out and grabbed him and tied him up. I continued my way down the road, then I heard a terrible scream and ran back to the clearing, what I saw made me sick to my stomach. The five men had tied Siris between two trees and let go of one that they had bent down. Siris was torn apart.

"Why did you do that, he was defenseless?" I yelled.

"He deserved what he got, he needed to pay for all those that he killed." One of the men said.

I didn't say anything else I just left the horrible scene and continued my trip to Athens. That wasn't justice, it was no better than what Siris did to others, I swore if I had the chance to bring true justice to this land I would.

As I continued my trip to Athens, I walked for at least another hour until a young boy ran to me. He was out of breath and I could see the fear in his eyes.

"Please help me!" The boy said.

"I'll help you, slow down and tell me whats going on." Is said.

"There is a large boar terrorizing the road ahead. It has killed several people. I was able out run it." I can't get home until it is gone." The boy said.

"How big is this boar?" I asked.

"Its about ten feet long and about six feet at the shoulder." The boy said.

"Thats a pretty big boar." I said as I walked further up the road toward the road, I saw a large boulder and so I climbed it. I wanted to see the terrain ahead. I was going to need some help with this boar and I hoped the terrain could help. As I looked over the terrain I saw something that could help. There was a stream that ran close to the road and at the far end of the stream was a large bog. If I could get the boar into that bog, I could kill it.

I climbed down the boulder and walked up the road, I picked up a few rocks and put them in a pouch I was carrying. These could come in handy. As I reached a straight stretch of the road I heard the boar. It was walking down the road toward me. When it saw me it charged. It was incredibly fast, I was barely able to get out of its way. One thing I did notice was that the boar could run incredibly fast in a straight line but it could not turn very well. I ran toward the stream, the boar finally turned around and walked over to me. It was wary of the stream so it did not charge. I was only a hundred yards or so from the bog. I had to get this thing to charge me. I remembered the rocks, I picked up one and threw it at the boar. It hit the boar square between the eyes and it charged. It was too fast I knew I couldn't run from it. So I did the only thing that I could, I turned and faced the boar. I waited till the very last second, then I jumped and landed on its back. One problem, I was facing the wrong way. The boar was about to turn away from the bog and I did the one thing I could think of, I stabbed it in the rear with my sword. That sent the boar into a screaming rage. It rushed forward even faster than before I looked over my shoulder the bog was only a few yards away. I timed my jump perfectly and sailed over the boars hind quarters and landed on the edge of the bog only a few feet from the edge. I heard the boar run deep into the bog. It screamed for a few minutes before it disappeared into the mirky, slimy water forever.

"You did it, that was incredible." The young boy said as he ran to my side to help me stand up.

"I guess it was." I said still out of breath.

The battle with the boar had only lasted a few minutes but it seemed a lot longer. I walked with boy to make sure he reached home safely and then I continued on my way to Athens.

Continuing my trip to Athens I also faced Sciron a robber who had people wash his feet before they could go on. What most didn't know was that he would knock them off a cliff as they washed his feet and they would be eaten alive by a sea monster. I met Sciron and knelt before him to wash his feet. As he was about to kick me off the cliff, I grabbed his foot and threw him off the cliff where he was eaten by the same sea monster. I know I killed another man, but I had no choice it was him or me. So I continued on my way.

I reached the kingdom of Eleusis, which had a king named Cercyon who would only allow travelers to pass his kingdom if they beat him in a wrestling match. What these travelers didn't know was that no matter if they won or not, Cercyon would kill them once the contest was over. So as I reached Eleusis I was approached by Cercyon who told me that his guards would not let me pass unless I beat him in a wrestling match. I wrestled him and he was pretty good, but I was younger and stronger so I easily beat him. What I didn't know was that his guards were about to shoot me with their arrows. I sensed the arrow was coming, I moved out of the way at the last minute and the arrow struck and killed Cercyon instead of me. The guards ran away after the death of their king so I continued on my way again.

The last obstacle that I faced on my trip to Athens was Procrustes, the stretcher. He would offer travellers a bed to sleep on before they continued on their way. The problem was that if they didn't fit the bed he would either stretch them to make them fit or if they were too tall he would cut off parts of their legs until they fit. Suffice to say he put the word hostile into hostel. I reached his so called Inn and I was greeted by Procrustes, he offered me the bed and when I accepted he led me to it. When he saw that I was too tall for it he was about to cut of my legs when I kicked the axe out of his hand and punched him in the face as hard as I could. He was knocked unconscious. So I tied him to the same bed that he offered me. What I didn't know was that the ropes he had by the bed were not just for securing his victims but they were attached to horses outside the house. When I slammed the door to his house to leave it spooked the horses and Procrustes was stretched.

After I finished this last challenge I continued onto Athens when I reached the city I asked a guard to take me to the king. The guard led me to the palace that was on top of the Acropolis.

"Young man my guards say you wish to see me" King Aegeus said.

"Yes, great king I'm a travelling hero and I would like to talk to you about my exploits on the road to Athens, if you wish of course." I said not wanting to reveal my identity just yet.

"That would be great, we have a banquet here tonight maybe you can regale us with your exploits young hero." King Aegeus said. I could tell he was suspicious. He also introduced me to his wife Medea. I could tell straight away that she was trouble and that she had a good idea who I was. Medea asked her husband to have me capture the Marathonian Bull as a sacrifice to the gods. King Aegeus asked me to do this at the banquet. I agreed and went to Marathon and captured the bull when I returned the king had a great celebration.

"Theseus you have honored us with your capture of the bull and the stories of your exploits." King Aegeus said. He was about to hand me a cup of wine that Medea had prepared. What I didn't know was that the wine was poisoned. Medea had tricked my father into agreeing to poison me because she said I was a threat to his thrown. King Aegeus was about to hand me the cup when he dropped his favorite knife. As he bent over to pick it up he saw my sandals.

"Theseus can I see your sword." Aegeus asked.

I handed him my sword and when he saw it he said, "Theseus you are my son and with that he glared at Medea and said, "You tricked me into almost helping you kill my son."

King Aegeus banished Medea from Athens and she was never heard from again. I became the heir to the thrown and more importantly I had a father for the first time in my life.

_Back to the present_

"So you see without these sandals I would most likely be dead and I certainly would not have been the King of Athens." I said completing the story.

"Great story Theseus." Percy said.

"These stories are based on the legends, right." Annabeth said.

"Annabeth, what I just told you is what truly happened. The myths and legends have changed much over the millennia." I said.

"So your telling us that the myths in our text books are wrong." Annabeth said.

"Some of what they say is true but a lot of the details are wrong." I said.

"I guess that makes sense it was a long time ago and these stories were told verbally and were not written down until thousands of years later." Annabeth said.

"That's correct, besides if the myths were all completely accurate I wouldn't be here with both of you today." I said.

"Can we stop with the history lesson, I like the action sequences the best." Percy said.

"Your such a seaweed brain." Annabeth said.

"Children lets calm down, we are getting ready to land in Athens." I said.

As we prepared to land I thought about my city and how it would look today. I knew it would be bigger, but I hoped some of the city would be familiar. At least I knew the Acropolis would be there, thank the gods. Then I remembered the real reason I came here and I smiled to myself.


	4. The Search

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 3: The Search

We landed in Athens and we were happy to be on the ground. Percy, Annabeth and I left the airport and took a taxi to the hotel. Percy and I stayed in one room and Annabeth was in the adjoining room. The view outside our window was incredible. The Acropolis and the Parthenon in particular were easily visible.

"When are we going to the Acropolis?" Annabeth asked anxiously.

"After dinner, I do not know about the two of you but I can't wait for some Greek food." I said. You can get a real appetite for food after three thousand years of waiting.

"Can we go to the beach tomorrow?" Percy asked.

"Well, I have a better idea. I need to go to the Office of Antiquities and pick up a permit that I applied for over the phone. Why don't the two of you go and eat dinner, then you both can go to the acropolis. I will meet you there. I'll pick up something to eat on my way to meet you." I said.

"That sounds great, what kind of permit are you getting?" Annabeth said.

"Oh, it's a surprise. You'll find out tomorrow." I said, trying to hide the smile creeping across my face.

"Come on Theseus tell us." Percy said trying to act like I hurt his feelings.

"Tomorrow, I'm off to my appointment. The two of you behave, alright." I said.

"Oh, they'll behave alright. They're going to dinner with me and then we're off to the Acropolis." Athena added from the back of the room. She must have just appeared. I thought Percy was going to jump out of his skin. I walked over to her and gave her a big hug.

"Athena, glad you dropped by, I have an appointment to go to at the Office of Antiquities. I'll meet you at the Acropolis when I'm done." I said. I could tell she was curious, but she just nodded and said, "Sounds good, I'll make sure these two behave." Meaning Percy and Annabeth would not be getting that much alone time with a protective mother around. I laughed to myself when I thought about that.

I said my goodbyes and then walked out the door. I hated being so mysterious but I had a lot of work to do to get ready for tomorrow. I walked down the street to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. It was a large building in classical Greek and Roman style with columns, very similar to the Parthenon itself. I walked in through the front doors and saw a young women at the welcome center desk. She didn't speak English or ancient Greek so it was a good thing I knew the Greek language well enough.

"I have an appointment with the director of antiquities, my name is Theseus Jackson." I said. I know, Jackson, but I used Percy's last name to get my passport and identification. Chiron, helped, he was pretty good at setting up identifications. I assume when your immortal you need to know how to do these sorts of things. That was something I would have to learn. My occupation on my passport was Professor of Archaeology, there was a small college in upstate New York called you guessed it, Half Blood College. A lot of the camp graduates would go to this college, for additional help or in some cases when they wanted a career related to certain camp duties or professions that came easy to certain immortal centaurs and others, like me. The woman motioned me toward a door that said Office of Antiquities. I walked through the door and saw a young man, probably in his mid-twenties. This was the director, I thought.

"Hello, can I help you he said?" He said.

"Yes, my name is Theseus Jackson, I have an appointment with you about a excavation permit." I said.

After some wrangling and I assume some assistance from a certain centaur that I know I was able to get the excavation permit for tomorrow. My next stop was a certain dive certification class that I had applied for. Even though scuba gear was a 20th century invention, my centuries in the void gave me plenty of time to learn a few things from watching the world develop. I probably knew more about the invention of scuba gear than the instructors. The certification test therefore was pretty easy. It only took me an hour to complete it. So, I had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and then meet everyone at the Acropolis. I grabbed a quick falafel from a street vender; a good thing about being immortal is that you don't have to worry about food poisoning. I ran and caught a bus just in time to make it to the Acropolis. I made it to the Acropolis only a minute or two late. I rushed to the Acropolis Museum where I knew Annabeth would have taken her mother and Percy. The smile of the blond girl running around the museum was evident as I walked through the door. When Percy saw me he ran over and pulled me to a statue of our father. Athena smiled at me and then walked over to talk with Annabeth.

"Do you think that looks like dad?" Percy asked.

"Sure, he is a god he can make himself look like anything, but he did look a lot like this back in the day." I said.

"What are you two talking about" Athena asked as she pulled Annabeth with her.

"Percy and I were just talking about this statue of Poseidon. So, how were these two young heroes, I hope they didn't give you any trouble." I said, glaring at Percy. Percy looked down at his feet for a moment and then said, "We were good!"

"Well, they were actually pretty good, except for a certain daughter of mine hounding me about when we were going to get here." Athena said as she gave a glare of her own to Annabeth.

"Theseus did you finish your errands?" Percy asked, he was clearly still curious about what I was doing.

"Sure, it didn't take me as long as I thought" I said, with a tone in my voice that said, drop it, your not going to get anymore information from me.

Athena gave me a look that I knew meant she suspected that I was up to something, but she clearly trusted me enough not to say anything in front of Percy and Annabeth. However, that didn't mean that if she got me alone sometime that she wouldn't try to pry more information out of me.

We walked around the Acropolis Museum for another hour. The place brought back a flood of memories. Percy and Annabeth were off together looking at some artifacts, that left Athena and I alone. Athena laced her arm through mine and I could tell she wanted to ask me something.

"Alright, the kids are gone, are you going to explain yourself?" Athena said.

I was about to say something like, well my name is Theseus and I'm over three thousand years old, but I knew that would only make her mad, so I said, "Well, I got an excavation permit and completed a dive certification course."

Athena looked at me with a little shock in her voice, "Why do you need a dive permit?"

"Well, it was required for an underwater excavation permit. It had to be completed before the excavation permit would be active. I had the dive center fax it to the Office of Antiquities once I passed the course." I said.

"Alright, but where and what are you excavating?" Athena asked, I could tell that her curiosity had been peaked.

"Well, I know of a place where I left some items, it's in an area just off the coast. I have a boat rental setup for tomorrow. I thought I could take the kids with me, I know Percy will want to swim and Annabeth will be excited to see what I find." I said.

"Sounds like that could be fun for them. I hear you were reminiscing on the flight over here about your sandals." She said clearly amused by the thought of my old ratty sandals that I wore.

"You really think your being smart now don't you bird brain!" I said with a broad smile on my face. Athena just looked at me and gave me that smirk that tried to show that she was upset but really meant that she was amused.

"That hurt sandals and by the way you know I never try to be smart, I just am." She said with a big smile on her face.

I smiled back at her I held both of her hands in mine and looked into her eyes, those gray eyes that I could get lost in. I could tell she was getting a little uncomfortable, but then I kissed her softly on the lips and I could feel the tension within her melt away. As we separated I noticed that her eyes were closed. When she opened them she just smiled at me and said, "You really know how to make me lose my train of thought, don't you?" She said clearly flustered.

I just smiled and said, "Sometimes using your emotions can be more fun than thinking."

She nodded and she said something that most people never here from her, "I guess your right about that."

Just then, two teenagers that we know and love ran up to us. "Mom, can we go to the Parthenon now?" Annabeth said.

Athena looked at Annabeth and then to Percy who was nodding in agreement and said, "Alright, lets go!"

I held Athena's hand as we walked out of the museum and toward one of my favorite places on the planet. We walked passed the massive columns that were clearly being worked on. The people still care about this place even though its thousands of year old; I was happy to know that it would be preserved. As we walked inside I could see the smiles and looks of wonder on the faces of Annabeth and Percy. It made me remember as a fifteen year old my father King Aegeus showing me the Acropolis and the Parthenon, I can still remember how amazing that day was.

"Sandals are you alive in there?" Athena said pulling my arm, I had stopped in mid-stride as I thought about that day so long ago.

"I was just looking at the kids and it reminded me of the first time I saw this place." I said.

"Thinking of Aegeus?" She said not thinking for once.

"I, I yes, he wasn't even my true father but he was such a great man, I miss him still." I said emotionally.

Athena, put her arm around me and gave me a squeeze and said, "I'm sorry I didn't want to upset you."

"You didn't, I just haven't thought of him in so long and this place brings back the memories so vividly." I said.

We continued our walk into the Parthenon and then we saw the area where Athena's statue was located. It reminded me of the first time I met Athena. It was the day that I established the first democratic institution in Athens. I walked out of the palace and saw the Parthenon, I walked inside and knelt before the statue to Athena and prayed. I prayed that my beliefs in justice and civil rights would last. As I finished Athena appeared before me, she was beautiful I guess some men were intimidated by her wit but I was intimidated by her beauty. I think I fell in love with her at that moment. Of course I was married to Hippolyta at the time, but that was just a marriage of convenience to bring peace between the Greeks and the Amazons.

"Theseus your remembering something again, aren't you?" Athena asked.

"Yes, I just remembered the first time I saw you, you were so beautiful." I said.

Athena's faced turned red as I said that and I could tell she remembered that day as well.

"This is incredible I can only imagine how it looked thousands of years ago." Annabeth said as she ran over to Athena and me.

"Well it was certainly in better shape, but it looks like Greece is trying to restore it." Athena said.

"It is clearly a painstaking process." I said.

"Well it is getting late and the Acropolis closes in thirty minutes." I said, motioning everyone toward the door.

"Annabeth and Percy wait for me at the bus stop I think Athena needs to go." Annabeth hugged her mother good bye and when Percy said good bye to Athena, she kissed him on the cheek. "Hey bro, you've got your own girl." I said. I could see his face turn as red as a beet.

Athena smiled at me and we walked a few yards away, out of sight of the tourists. I held her hand and said, "Do you think sometime on this trip you and I could go out together without the kids?"

"Who is going to watch them?" Athena said.

"Well can you ask one of your more responsible siblings to look after them for one evening?" I said, already knowing what she would say.

"I'm the only responsible one, the rest act like children." Athena said.

"Well what about one of your cousins or aunts?" I asked.

"Hera would like to kill them so she's out, Demeter is down in Hades visiting Persephone, and Hestia is a homebody and never leaves Olympus." Athena said.

"Well, I can always ask dad, if he's not too busy, I'll send him an iris message tonight." I said.

"Good, he can always take them on a tour of the old port." Athena said.

I hugged her one more time and kissed her goodbye and she disappeared in a bright golden light. I walked back over to Percy and Annabeth who were giggling to themselves about something.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing we were just talking about how great a couple you and Athena make." Annabeth said, not even trying to hide her smile.

"Well You and Percy make a great couple as well and you don't here Athena and I giggling about it." I said. They both shut up about the couple talk after that. We boarded the bus and we reached the hotel in time to get to sleep early. I had a long day scheduled for us tomorrow.

I woke up about 5:00 AM in the morning, it was difficult but I finally woke up Percy and Annabeth. They finally got ready and we left the hotel at 6:00 AM. We arrived at the port at 6:30 AM. We walked until I saw the boat that I rented, a sail boat actually, the name was somewhat appropriate, the Odyssey. Of course I didn't need a crew with Percy and me onboard so we boarded the boat and headed out to sea.

It was beautiful day, the water was crystal clear and had a beautiful blue-green hue to it. Dolphins glided in our wake as the wind was pretty fierce today. We traveled at an impressive ten knots and made it to our destination off the coast in about three hours. I placed our warning buoy and setup my equipment. Percy wanted to dive with me but I told him that I needed him on the surface in case I needed help. I could always communicate with him through our twin link. I put on just a swimsuit as I didn't need a wetsuit. I took an artifact bag with me, a work knife and my sword just in case I needed a weapon. I readied myself and dived overboard. The water wasn't cold, actually it felt great. I dove deeper until a shadow passed over me I looked up and didn't see anything then something told me to turnaround and then I saw it. A great white shark, a big one at least 20 feet long heading straight for me. As it came within 10 feet of me I could hear it speak to me, "Son of Poseidon, this is my territory can I assist you?" The shark said.

Thank the gods he was on our side. "No, I'm heading for the bottom I'm looking for some artifacts from long ago." I said.

"Be careful there is a creature down there. It is large and vicious I would never go down there without a very good reason." The shark said.

"Thank you for your concern. I need to go down there, I will be as careful as I can." I said.

I continued my swim I could see the shark circling above. I think she was keeping an eye on me in case I needed help. I need to thank her when I surface, I thought to myself. I swam deeper and deeper until I could see the outline of the ocean floor below me. The Ocean floor was made of sand that was a dark black color. This would make my job a little easier. Not much had changed except for the water depth which had increased at least thirty feet. There it is I thought as I saw an eight foot Greek column and below it several broken columns strewn across the ocean floor. I looked around for the cave entrance that I knew was nearby and then I saw the cave only about 50 yards from me.

I swam to it but before I could go inside I was hit by something big. I turned around and a large serpentine tail was visible swimming away. I quickly turned and saw a large sea snake swimming away. I knew instinctively that it wasn't a sea snake, it was too big.

I continued to look in the direction where the creature swam away. Then I saw it turn around and swim directly toward me. I willed the currents to push me out of the way just in time as the creature slammed its jaws closed. I recognized this creature from a painting on some pottery in the Acropolis Museum. It was a water drakon and looked like the same one Ares sent to kill the hero Kadmos long ago. I guess Ares was still mad at me for besting him in that sword fight. I needed to figure out a defense quickly, I pulled out my sword, but I knew that I didn't want to fight this thing in close quarters. Then I remembered one of the items that I left in the cave long ago. I needed a distraction, so I remembered the shark. I focused on the shark until I could hear her thoughts. Then I told her my plan. I swam into the cave and peered out, I could see the drakon circling the cave entrance, it wasn't going to allow me to leave. Then I saw the shark bite into the tail of the drakon. This definitely got its attention it turned and chased the shark. The shark was faster and more maneuverable but she couldn't keep it up for too long.

I swam into the cave and I remembered my flashlight in my artifact bag, I turned it on and continued to swim. I reach the end of the cave and I saw all of the artifacts that I had left and then I found what I was looking for, a large ballista with a very large celestial bronze arrow attached to it. The ballista weighed a ton, but it had wheels that were made from celestial bronze as well. Thank the gods because this kept the wheels from rusting. I used all of my strength to push the ballista until I reached the entrance to the cave. I positioned the ballista and set the arrow. I would have one shot at this. I saw the shark still swimming from the drakon. I mentally told her to get the hades out of here. She swam toward the surface away from the drakon. The drakon swam back to the cave entrance, clearly this thing hadn't forgotten about me. I used the flashlight and shined it into the drakon's eyes. It swam toward me at full speed as it came within distance I aimed and fired. The arrow flew out of the cave entrance and slammed into the neck of the drakon sending it crashing into the side of the cave. I was thrown back against the wall and hit my head. I woke up from the hit to the head a few minutes later and swam outside. The drakon was alive but severely injured, I swam up to it took out my sword and used all of my strength to shove the blade between its scales into its brain. The drakon dissolved into a cloud of golden dust.

Exhausted I went back into the cave collected the artifacts and swam to the surface. I was so tired that when I almost passed out on the way to the surface. My friend the shark arrived and I grabbed her dorsal fin and she carried me to the surface. I thanked her very much and told her that I would sing her praises to Poseidon. She seemed very pleased as she swam for the depths below. Percy helped me to the surface and took the artifact bag from me. I told Percy and Annabeth about the fight and I rested while Percy sailed us back to port.

"A sea drakon, their pretty tough." Annabeth said.

"Tell me about it, if it wasn't for the shark I would be drakon food." I said exhausted.

I showed the artifacts to Annabeth as we sailed back to port. Part of my excavation permit agreement was the sale of the artifacts to the Athens museum. I knew I could get a pretty good amount of money for my artifacts.

"So you agreed to sell these to the museum?" Annabeth asked.

"I didn't have a lot of choice it was a condition of the permit. I don't mind I wanted to make sure that the legacy of those days was preserved for future generations. Besides this is one of the main reasons I came back here." I said as I held up a celestial bronze tube that had a scroll in it.

"Can we open it now?" Annabeth asked.

"No I think I will allow the museum curator to open it, but I want you and Percy there when we do." I said.

I leaned back in the seat on the boat and went to sleep, I was exhausted, but I had my prize and that made the fight with the Drakon worth it. I think the curator is going to be pretty surprised when he opens that tube I thought as I dreamed of past adventures.


	5. Crete

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 5: Crete

As we arrived in port, Annabeth woke me up. I had slept the entire way back from the excavation site. I was tired and I had a pretty bad headache from the battle, but I was recovering fast, thank the gods for immortality. As we docked the boat and prepared to leave I placed the artifacts into a protective case for transport to the Athens Museum. We boarded a taxi and drove the twelve blocks to the museum. As we arrived, Annabeth, Percy and I made our way to the Office of Antiquities to meet with the curator.

"Mr. Jackson it is so good to see you again, I take it that your excavation work was successful." The curator said.

"Yes, I have an assortment of artifacts for you to view and one in particular that we haven't opened yet, I would like you to have that honor." I said.

"That's wonderful, I would be honored." The curator said.

I introduced the curator to Percy and Annabeth, and then we got down to business. I took out the artifact case and opened it. I separated out the artifacts into categories; first there were five jars sealed and filled with olive oil and wine, second there were thirty gold Athenian coins with a picture of a certain Athenian king on them, then there was a gold ceremonial dagger with a jeweled handle, a gold death mask, and lastly the celestial bronze tube. The curator eyed the tube inquisitively.

"I take it that this is the artifact you would like me to open." The curator said holding the bronze tube in his hand..

"Yes, I believe it contains a scroll, an important one." I said.

The curator inspected the tube and then opened it carefully. Inside was a scroll that was in perfect condition for being over three thousand years old. The curator carefully opened the scroll and read the contents. His eyes widened as he read it.

"This is the Athenian 'Bill of Rights'." The curator said.

"I believe that is correct, certainly that is the name that we would give it today. This is the scroll that described the first democratic institutions in Athens. An extremely important scroll, its importance cannot be measured, but it is the fore father to great documents such as the Magna Carta and the U.S. Constitution." I said proudly.

"You are correct, its priceless!" The curator said.

"That's why I'm not going to sell it to the museum I want to give it to you." I said.

"Thank you, Mr. Jackson that is incredible, it is very generous of you." The curator said.

I do want payment for the gold coins, the dagger and the mask, but everything else I'm donating to the museum." I said.

"That is very generous, the museum would be ecstatic to pay you the price we discussed for these items." The curator said.

"That is correct, I agreed to a 50% reduction for the museum." I said.

"A great price and on behalf of the museum we accept this offer and I will right out a pay order as we speak." The curator said.

"Thank you" I said.

"For everything we're looking at a price of $1,950,000.00 American." The curator said.

"I agree, an adequate price." I said.

The curator wrote the check for the agreed upon amount. We said our goodbyes to the ecstatic curator and left for our hotel.

"Thats incredible two million dollars." Percy said.

"You could have gotten more for all of it." Annabeth said.

"Sure I could have, but I didn't need more and by the way I wanted to make sure that these artifacts remained in Athens. That is more important to me than the money." I said.

As we reached the hotel, the desk clerk said, "Mr. Jackson you have a call from the Athens Museum curator."

I answered the phone and spoke to the curator for twenty minutes.

"Theseus, what was that all about?" Percy said.

"Well, how would both of you like to go to Crete?" I asked.

"Yes!" Annabeth and Percy said at the exact same time.

"Good, the curator would like me to do some underwater excavation for them. They will handle the expenses and the three of us will be paid thirty percent of the value of what we find. A decent deal since the museum is picking up the tab." I said.

"Thats incredible." Percy said.

"It sure is." Annabeth added.

"Well, lets get some dinner and go to bed early, we are to take out another sail boat that the museum will rent for us and then we're off to Crete. It is a two day journey by sea and we will probably stay there one full day and then another two day trip back to Athens." I said.

Over dinner we all discussed the trip tomorrow and the excavation area. It turned out that the excavation area was just off the coast from the palace of Knossus. We would be excavating an area that was destroyed in the earthquakes and tsunami's caused by the volcanic eruption on Thera, an island off the east coast of Greece thousands of years ago. We went to sleep early, we had a long trip ahead of us.

We awoke the next morning grabbed some breakfast and made our way to the sea port. We boarded our boat and we were on our way to Crete. The weather was great and the wind was strong. We averaged at least ten knots on our trip to Crete. Our two day trip to Crete was wonderful, I think Percy and Annabeth had a lot of fun. I love the sea and of course Percy does as well. I was surprised how much fun Annabeth had. I think she had more fun being with Percy than anything else.

We reached the island of Crete on our second day. We anchored off the coast, the ruins of Knossus was clearly visible. We anchored in the spot provided to us by the Athens Museum. Percy and I prepared to dive, Annabeth assisted us. We had scuba helmets with radios so we could communicate with Annabeth on the surface. We wore these just in case not because we needed them. We dove to the bottom of the ocean and settled on the surface. Percy and I could communicate through our mental link. As we reached the bottom we saw broken columns and cracked marble blocks. We could tell that these ruins were created by a mega disaster. We started to excavate the site using our tools. Annabeth had sent over an excavation vacuum. We used this to remove silt and sand from the bottom in order to locate artifacts. We worked until it started to get dark. We swam to the surface without finding any artifacts.

"Can't believe we didn't find anything with all the ruins down there." Percy said.

"Well, I think its likely that artifacts may have been pushed down hill." I said as I pulled out a topographic map to the ocean floor.

"See this slope just south of where we excavated today." I said.

"Yes, I think your right Theseus." Annabeth said.

"What do you think we'll find there?" Percy asked.

"Many things I hope." I said.

"Theseus, I'm surprised that you didn't tell us about your adventures on Crete in the past." Annabeth said.

"I'd like to hear the story of the minotaur and the labyrinth." Percy said.

"Alright, I guess we have time tonight. I'll tell the story as we prepare dinner and as we eat." I said, as I prepared myself to tell a story that I knew would bring back both good and bad memories.

_Over 3,000 years ago_

It was a great day in Athens, my father King Aegeus had just officially adopted me as his son and official heir to the thrown of Athens. There was a great party after the announcement. All of the people attended, it was incredible. The party lasted throughout the night and the people had a great time. I woke up the next morning to the sound of the warning trumpets from the port. I met my father at the port and we watched the two large ships enter the port. They were large triremes with black sails bearing the golden emblem of King Minos. I could see the life drain out of my father's face.

"Father whats wrong?" I asked.

"They will be asking us for the sacrifice today." Aegeus said.

"What sacrifice?" I asked.

"We waged war with Minos many years ago and were defeated, in order to keep Athens from being destroyed we agreed to this sacrifice. It occurs every nine years." Aegeus said.

"What exactly is the sacrifice?" I asked again.

I could see the look of shame and sorrow in his eyes, "Well we have to give over seven boys and seven girls to them." Aegeus said.

"We give up people! What happens to them?" I asked.

"We don't know. All we know is that they are never seen again." Aegeus said, he was starting to sob openly.

"Father, I will go this time disguised as one of the young men to be sacrificed." I said.

"No son I can't lose you." Aegeus said.

"Father, I promise I will return and when I do we will never have to sacrifice people like this again." I said, determined to stop these sacrifices.

The next day I boarded one of the ships my club and sword were taken from me and locked away. I was chained in the hold of the ship with the six other Athenian young men. The young maidens were placed on the second ship for their trip to Crete. We sailed for three days to Crete. Most of the young men with me were just a couple of years younger than I. We reached Crete on the third day, we docked at the minoan port and were brought to the great palace at Knossus. It was a beautiful palace filled with paintings and flowers. King Minos was clearly powerful and wealthy.

Welcome young Athenians, to your final destination." King Minos said with an evil grin on his face.

First, you will be given a comfortable room to spend the next two days as we prepare for the sacrifice." King Minos said.

We were taken to individual rooms, as I approached my room I saw a beautiful young woman. She was more beautiful than anyone I had seen up to that point. She smiled at me and I returned her smile with a happy smirk of my own. The guards took me to my room opened the door and threw me inside. There was a bed and a sink, for the first time in my life I saw running water in a room. It was amazing and the water refreshed my weakened spirit. I stayed in my room thinking of what would happen in two days. I heard a small knock on my door and then I heard the door unlock gently. I stood ready to attack the guard who would dare enter my room. Instead when the door opened, the young woman I had seen earlier entered my room. My heart stopped for a moment when I saw her again. She smiled at me and said, "My name is Ariadne, who are you?"

"I'm Theseus son of King Aegeus of Athens." I said.

"Theseus, why did your father sacrifice you?" Ariadne asked.

"He didn't, I volunteered, I need to make these sacrifices end. What does Minos do with the young men and women?" I said.

"They are thrown into the Labyrinth as a sacrifice to the minotaur." Ariadne said.

"The what?" I said.

"The minotaur, half-man, half-bull." Ariadne said.

"I need to kill this creature and end the sacrifices, can you help me?" I asked.

"For you I will." Ariadne said as she walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder. Then she leaned forward and kissed me. I was stunned but the kiss was great. She left and told me she would return the next evening. I went to sleep dreaming of the next day and what would happen in the labyrinth.

The next day when I awoke, the door was still locked and I was trapped in this prison. The guards delivered food twice that day, the meals were good, they should be considering they were suppose to be my last meals. I waited in my prison for hours, then I heard a knock on the door. It unlocked slowly and then Ariadne walked in holding my club, sword and a ball of celestial bronze thread.

"Hello Theseus, I have a few things to give you and to tell you." Ariadne said.

Ariadne told me about her conversation with Daedalus. Daedalus had told her that she had the sight and that she could lead me through the labyrinth, but that the thread was needed to find our way out quickly. Ariadne found my weapons and stole them back for me. She then told me that Daedalus had created a poison to place into the drinking water supply to knock out most of the palace. They wouldn't die but they would sleep long enough for me to kill the minotaur and free the Athenians.

"Ariadne, thank you so much for helping me and my people" I said.

"Your welcome, but you must take me with you." Ariadne said.

"I will take you with me, I promise." I said.

I gathered my weapons and the thread and I followed Ariadne out of the room and toward the labyrinth. We reached the entrance to the labyrinth, the guards at the entryway were unconscious from the poison and we easily passed through the entrance. I tied the thread to a large metal ring on the entrance and let the thread pull out as we walked through the passageways. The labyrinth looked like a cave but you could tell it was man-made and there were large torches lit every forty feet or so. I followed Ariadne, she walked through the labyrinth like she knew exactly where she was going. We walked for at least an hour until I heard the first snort, it sounded exactly like a bull out of breath. That had to be the minotaur. I hid Ariadne and told her to come find me when I yelled that the creature was dead. She gave me a kiss for luck and then I was off toward the sounds of the creature. I entered a large room with a pool of clear water in the middle of it. Then something hit me hard, I flew across the room and hit the wall hard. I knew it had to be the minotaur.

I go up, the minotaur had hit me so hard that I had flown across the pool and hit the wall on the other side. That was good thing as I had some time to come around and collect my senses. The room was very large and on the other side of the pool stood a twelve foot tall creature, half-man and half-bull. It was built powerfully and I knew that it was stronger then me. Suddenly, I realized that my club was on the wrong side of the pool, but I still had my sword. I pulled out my sword and glared at the beast. I quickly ran around the pool toward the beast and it charged me. I moved quickly to the left just in time to avoid its horns. As the creature passed me I swung my sword behind me and I caught the minotaur on the backside. The creature screamed and turned around more quickly than thought it could. It charge me again and I just reacted, I jumped in the air and flipped over the creature as it passed over where I had been standing. I landed behind the minotaur and then I had an idea. The pool if I could get this thing to jump in the pool I could drown it, I thought. I positioned myself in front of the pool and glared at the minotaur it had turned around and was staring at me. I guess it had never fought anyone who had lasted this long.

"What are you looking at ugly?" I said.

I think I made it mad because it charged, I waited for the right time to move and at the last second I moved to the left unfortunately the minotaur grabbed my right foot and it pulled me into the pool with it. I hit the water and I could feel the creature pulling me toward it. I had been in water before but I had never been under the water this long something incredible happened. When I couldn't hold my breath anymore, I gasped and instead of drowning I was able to breath underwater. More important than that I felt strong, stronger than I ever felt before. I swam toward the beast holding my foot and I punch it as hard as I could, I felt its jaw break with the punch and then I pulled out my sword and with one powerful swipe I cut the head off the beast. I swam to the surface of the pool. As I reached the edge of the pool I threw the minotaur's head on the side of the pool and climbed out. I caught my breath grabbed the minotaur head and collected my weapons and walked back toward Ariadne. I yelled for her and after a few minutes she appeared around the corner pulling the thread behind her. She gave me a huge hug and we used the thread to reach the entrance to the labyrinth.

We ran to each of the captives rooms and released them. We ran to the port and boarded the first ship we could find. We set sail for Athens with a strong wind behind us and calm seas beneath us. As everyone went to sleep I stayed on deck and steered the ship towards home until I was startled by a man appearing next to me. He was roughly my height with dark black hair and green eyes. His eyes were familiar and then I realized he had my eyes.

"Hello Theseus, you have made me proud, my son." The man said.

"Your son, my father is King Aegeus of Athens." I said.

"No, I'm your true father, Aegeus is your adoptive father my son." The man said.

"If your my father, then who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Poseidon god of the sea." Poseidon said.

"Lord Poseidon, your my father?" I said.

"Yes, Theseus, I'm sorry I haven't seen you before, but you had a destiny to fulfill and you are needed in Athens. You are destined to be their king, my son." Poseidon said.

"I don't know about that but who am I to argue with a god." I said.

"You are my son, the first demigod child I ever had." Poseidon said.

"Will I see you again." I said.

"Yes my son, don't forget that the water can make you powerful and that your mind is your greatest asset. I will always look out for you and you have made me proud." Poseidon said as he turned into a small wave and was swept overboard. I stood there for a few moments, I was stunned. For the rest of the evening I kept replaying my conversation with Poseidon.

The next morning I saw an island straight ahead of the ship, I set sail for it knowing that we needed supplies for the next day of travel. I docked the ship off the coast and lowered a small boat. Ariadne asked to accompany me. I rowed the ship to the small island, Ariadne said that the island was named Naxos. I searched the island looking for fresh water and Ariadne searched for food. Suddenly I was approach by a man dressed in a white toga with a goblet of wine in his hand.

"Theseus, I must speak to you." The man said.

"Yes, who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Dionysus, the god of wine and I have a proposition for you." Dionysus said.

"What kind of proposition?" I asked.

"I want you to leave Ariadne on this island so I may profess my love for her and marry her." Dionysus said.

"I can't leave her I promised to take her to Athens." I said.

"No you didn't, you agreed to take her with you not bring her to Athens." Dionysus said.

"She will hate me if I do this." I said.

"Yes, at first but you just met her, I've been in love with her for years." Dionysus said.

"What do I get for doing this?" I asked.

"I will make the vineyards surrounding Athens, the best in all of Greece. This will increase the wealth of Athens and will allow you to bring justice to all of Ionia." Dionysus said.

"I will accept on one condition." I said.

"What is the condition?" Dionysus asked.

"You must promise on the river Styx to love and take care of her always." I said.

"I love her with all my heart, I swear on the river Styx to love and take care of her always." Dionysus said proudly.

Dionysus disappeared and I collected the water that I found. I searched for Ariadne and I found her asleep under a tree with a basket of fruit and berries. I took the basket and left her. Before I left I whispered, "Please forgive me."

I made it back to my ship and boarded it. I told the others that Ariadne had chosen to stay and with sadness I set sail back to Athens. The entire following day I felt so guilty about leaving Ariadne. I knew she would hate me forever and I couldn't blame her. I just prayed to the gods that she would be happy with Dionysus. The remainder of the trip was uneventful and as we reached the harbor of Athens. I saw my father on top of the hill overlooking the harbor, I tried to wave to him but he couldn't see me, then he did something that will haunt me forever. He threw himself off the cliff into the ocean below, I knew he was dead but I jumped overboard to find him. I found him and carried him to shore, he was already dead and I cried as I looked toward my ship and then it hit me. I had been so consumed with my guilt over leaving Ariadne and I had forgotten to change the black sail to a white sail. Aegeus's death was my fault. There was no celebration for my return with my fellow Athenians, instead we had a great funeral for my adoptive father. The next day I took the oath as King, but it wasn't a happy day. That day was one of the saddest days of my life, unfortunately my life would see other tragic and terrible days.

_Return to the present_

I stopped talking and tears were evident in my eyes.

"Theseus, I'm sorry!" Annabeth said.

"Brother, Dionysus never told me what happened, he just said that you left her." Percy said.

"Of course he did, he would never want his wife to hate him." I said.

"Why didn't you tell people." Annabeth said.

"I didn't want Ariadne to be unhappy, I didn't care that people thought I was heartless, I knew better and so did my friends and family." I said.

Annabeth and Percy both consoled me for the rest of the evening, I had forgotten this pain, but it did feel good to tell people the truth.

"Well lets get some sleep we have a long day of excavating tomorrow." I said.

Annabeth and Percy fell asleep quickly. I on the other hand continued to remember those days long ago, I wouldn't sleep tonight.

_**Sorry for the delay in getting this out, but it was a long one. Hope you enjoy.**_


	6. The Crown of Minos

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 6: The Crown of Minos

I saw Percy and Annabeth come up from the rooms below, they both looked like they slept well. At least they could sleep, I was up all night with my memories.

"Good morning, sleep well?" I asked.

"Yes, I slept great." Percy said and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Good, we have a long day ahead of us. I made breakfast, dig in, then we'll get ready to dive." I said, willing a smile to my tired face.

We ate breakfast and talked about the preparations needed for the dive and excavation work. Percy and I prepared for the dive with our communication helmets to communicate with Annabeth, two artifact bags, and our two swords just in case. Annabeth prepared the sonar equipment, the underwater vacuum and her communication equipment. After about an hour of preparations, Percy and I fell over the side of the boat and into the crystal clear green water. As I hit the water, I was energized by my contact with the sea and I was no longer tired. It was definitely good to be a son of the sea god. Percy and I swam to the edge of the slope just south of the ruins. The water depth would increase at least fifty feet to the bottom of the slope. We communicated to Annabeth that we were heading down the slope so she could keep track of us with the sonar. As we reached the sea bottom, we communicated to Annabeth to send down the vacuum hoses. Percy and I started to removed sand and silt. As we removed material we started to find Minoan gold and silver coins, a few pieces of decorated pottery shards and some gold and silver jewelry. We collected these artifacts in our bags and proceeded with the search. I was the first to notice. My last pass of the vacuum unearthed a large bronze foot. I told Percy through our mental link and we began to uncover more. Until we had completely uncovered a huge twenty foot bronze statue of a man. I recognized the statue as Talus the protector of Crete. Through my mental link I informed Percy that Talus was created by Hephaestus for Zeus who used the automaton to protect the shores of Crete from pirates. Talus was eventually destroyed by the Argonauts with the help of Hera and the witch Medea. We didn't dare take any piece of Talus and continued on our search for artifacts. Percy unearthed a small structure that looked like a tomb, so I swam over to help uncover it. What we found was roughly twelve feet tall and approximately one hundred feet in circumference. A small tomb indeed. Percy and I carefully opened the door to the tomb and looked inside. There were artifacts such as ceremonial containers that we placed within our bags and we both stopped as we saw a small marble sarcophagus in the middle of the tomb. We carefully opened it and a bright light shot through the tomb. When we looked back again we saw a golden crown filled with every kind of jewel imaginable. It was beautiful, and then I read the greek writing on the side of the crown. The greatest of kings and the fiercest of rulers, Minos of Crete the writing said. I was stunned and then I remembered the bright light. I told Percy that we needed to leave now. As we left the tomb with the crown in our bag, I noticed movement ahead. There standing before us with glowing gold eyes was the bronze automaton Talus. Percy and I froze in place, then we quickly separated as a large foot came down where we just stood. I could hear Percy communicate with Annabeth.

"Annabeth, we are under attack by a twenty foot automaton" Percy said in a panic.

"Annabeth I need my club drop it overboard, quickly." I said.

Percy and I swam around in order to keep Talus confused and preoccupied. Then I saw it, the glint from the celestial bronze club as it hit the sea floor. I mentally told Percy what I was doing as I raced for the club, but before I could get there a large rock hit me in the back sending me to the sea floor. Talus had thrown a rock underwater at me, the rock probably weighed one hundred pounds. I was dazed and couldn't see straight for a moment. Then I heard Percy screaming in my head. I cleared my head and swam to the club. I reached it just in time as Percy sailed toward me, I caught him just in time before he crashed into a large boulder that was directly behind me. I told Percy through our link to hold my hand and to concentrate on the sea floor behind Talus. Our mental link merged and we were like one person. It was the same feeling we had when we fought Oceanus. We both concentrated on the sea floor and then we felt the earth shake and a large fissure in the sea floor opened it had to be at least forty feet wide and sixty feet deep. I told Percy to swim to the surface with both artifact bags as I rushed toward Talus. Percy tried to argue but I growled at him through our link and so he carried out my order and swam to the surface. I willed the water around me to push me forward. I swam at incredible speed first straight toward the feet of Talus but as I reached his feet and saw Talus try to step on me, I willed the water to bring me up straight toward Talus's head. As I approached Talus's head at incredible speed I swung the club and with a terrible crash the club met Talus's jaw. I was thrown back after a terrible explosion and landed hard on the sea floor.

When I finally sat up I saw Talus's shattered head on the sea floor about ten feet from the edge of the fissure. I swam as fast as I could to the edge of the fissure and peered down. On the bottom of the fissure I saw the broken bronze body of Talus. The body of the automaton was broken in half at the waist and one leg was broken in half as well. Talus was no longer moving, so I swam to the surface barely making it. Suddenly, Percy was there carrying me back to the boat and lifting me out of the water.

After a few moments to catch my breath I said, "Thank you, brother." I said.

Annabeth was now next to me with Percy.

"Are you alright?" Annabeth asked me.

"I'm better now that its over." I said.

After a few moments to recover and collect my thoughts I told them what happened.

"That's incredible" Percy and Annabeth said at the same time, I could see them both blush at the same time as well.

"I'm just lucky it worked." I said.

"Lucky, that was a crazy thing to do." Athena said as she appeared behind her daughter.

"Athena!" Was all I could say.

"You could have gotten yourself and Percy killed." Athena said, with anger mixed with a lot of relief in her voice.

"Well your right of course, no more excavations, I promise." I said as I stood up.

Suddenly Athena grabbed me in a huge bear hug. I could feel her tears on my skin. Tears are something that you do not see very often from the goddess of wisdom. I pushed her within arms length and looked into her gray eyes. Her sad gray eyes.

"I'm sorry, I never wanted to make you sad." I said.

"I was just scared for you, when I checked on you and saw you charge Talus I thought I would lose you again." Athena said as she wiped a tear from her face.

"I swear on the river Styx no more excavations for me." I said reassuringly.

"You better not or I'll kick your butt!" Athena said as a big smile crept across her face.

I could sense the awkwardness from behind me as I turned to see Percy and Annabeth staring at us.

"Percy and Annabeth its alright." I said as Athena nodded in agreement.

"Good because I don't like it when you two fight." Percy said.

"Thats right, it doesn't seem right for two people in love to fight." Annabeth said.

"Really, I seem to remember many times when you and Percy would have fights over things much less important than this." Athena said.

I could tell from the expressions on Annabeth's and Percy's faces that Athena was right as usual so they gave up on that discussion.

"Why do you think Talus reawakened?" Percy said.

"Well, I think it was a trap set by Minos probably. Although I wouldn't put it passed Hera to do it since she helped defeat Talus in the first place." I said.

"Theseus, I know Hera doesn't like Annabeth and I, but why would she want to kill you." Percy said.

I heard a loud laugh from Athena standing next to me, then she said, "Well first Theseus is Herakles's best friend and he stopped Hera many a time from killing her stepson. Second and probably more important Hera never cared for me so she would want to hurt me when she could." Athena said, before she could finish I added, "Third, I did beat up Ares her favorite child."

"That all makes sense then." Annabeth said.

"Well, let's set sail for Athens." I said.

"Athena do you want to sail back with us?" I asked hopefully.

"Sounds great, I haven't been on a boat in a while." Athena said, I could tell she was nervous but I gave her a reassuring glance and she smiled at me.

"I'm starved, I'm going to cook dinner, I have a vegetarian pasta dish that everyones going to love." I said.

"I never knew you could cook." Athena said.

"Well you learn a lot of things stuck in the void for three thousand years." I said.

"What else did you learn, while you were in there?" Annabeth asked with the same look Athena was giving me.

"Well let me see twenty-seven languages not counting ancient greek and latin. Every martial art on the planet, how to drive a car, truck, ship, helicopter, air plane, fighter jet, submarine, archery, how to fix engines, geology, archaeology, astronomy and medicine." I said.

The looks on all three of their faces was priceless, then I said, "Oh, and I learned how to unlock my immortality, too." I said.

"You know twenty-seven languages?" Annabeth said.

"Twenty-nine if you count latin and ancient greek, of course." I said.

"You're good at archery!" Percy said, leave it to my little brother to pick up on that one thing.

"How do you think I could teach you how to shoot, so you could kill the Caucasian eagle." I said.

"Percy, you didn't tell me you shot the eagle with a bow and arrow." Annabeth said.

"Not only did he shoot it, he shot it in the only spot that would kill it with one arrow." I said, happy that the attention was on Percy and not me.

"You learned all of these things while in the void." Athena said, I could tell it was more of a question than a statement.

"Sure, I could see anywhere I wanted to so I looked in on several universities during my years and besides as things were invented I could be right there to watch." I said.

"Well, that is impressive, I guess you believe that makes you pretty smart then." Athena said.

"Well, not as smart as you, but close." I said with a big smile on my face.

"I take it when you fought Ares, you could have really beat him up bad." Percy said.

"Percy, I learned all of my techniques for defense not to hurt people. I do not like war and that makes Ares and I on different paths. I have seen too many wars in my time, nothing good comes from them." I said, remembering all the terrible things that happen in war.

Athena placed her hand on mine and smiled at me. I knew she could sense what I was feeling.

"Lets let Theseus get back to cooking, I'm pretty hungry." Athena said trying to change the subject.

"What did you all find down there?" Annabeth asked.

"Percy show the ladies what we discovered." I said.

Percy opened up the two artifact bags and separated the artifacts on the table. There were thirty silver coins with the picture of the minotaur on them. There were fifty gold coins with a picture of King Minos on them. Four ceremonial jars with images of Minos and the minotaur. Four gold necklaces, one with rubies, another with diamonds, another with emeralds and the last with sapphires. Then Percy opened the second bag and took out the crown of Minos, Annabeth and Athena gasped at the same time.

"I see that you both recognize the crown of Minos." I said.

"Thats why Talus attacked, Minos used the crown to control the Automaton." Athena said.

"So opening the sarcophagus awoke Talus, it makes sense now. I guess we can't blame Hera this time at least." I said.

"So what is the Athens Museum going to give you for this excavation work?" Athena asked.

"Well, they paid for the excavation and all our expenses and we will get thirty percent of the value of what we find." I said.

"That will be a lot of money." Annabeth said.

"Considering what you just found, I agree." Athena said.

"I think it will be enough to send two great kids to college." I said.

Percy and Annabeth both looked at me surprised and then Athena said, "Good idea we'll make sure this money is put away for both of you."

I know Percy and Annabeth wanted to argue about it but they knew better.

"Dinners ready!" I said.

We ate dinner and afterwards it was late, Athena and I sent the kids to bed. Athena and I stayed up on deck. I made sure the boat was on autopilot, so Athena and I could have some alone time. We sat next to each other looking up at the stars.

"The night and the stars are beautiful" Athena said.

"Almost as beautiful as you my love." I said.

"You sure know how to flatter a lady don't you?" Athena said.

"Well not just any lady. You are the woman that I have loved for over three thousand years." I said. I looked into her eyes and kissed her passionately. I could feel all the tension release from her body and it almost felt like we melted together for a moment. It was a wonderful feeling. We separated and Athena looked at me and smiled the most beautiful smile at me.

"I love you Theseus with all my heart." Athena said.

"That makes me happier than any man deserves to be." I said.

We continued to stare into the night sky, until a thought came to me.

"About some alone time way from the kids, when we reach port tomorrow afternoon we will have only two days left before we have to go home. I have arranged some plans for us on our last night here and my father has agreed to watch Annabeth and Percy." I said.

"Thats great, what kind of plans?" Athena asked.

"Well its a surprise, just make sure that you dress in some kind of beautiful modern gown as we will be hitting the town." I said.

"Sounds great, I need to leave now, I will see you then." Athena said.

We both stood up and I was still holding her hand. I pulled her close for one more kiss and then I let her go. She dissolved into a beautiful cloud of gold. I couldn't help smiling broadly thinking of the night we would share.


	7. Our Special Evening

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 7: Our Special Evening

After another long day at sea I had fully recovered from my battle with Talus. Our boat entered the port in Athens. We docked and prepared to disembark. Annabeth and Percy were both smiling, I knew they couldn't wait to go to the museum. We caught a taxi at the port and headed to the museum with our bag of artifacts. When we reached the museum Percy and Annabeth literally jumped out of the taxi and ran to the entrance of the museum. That left me to pay the cab driver and carry the heavy bag of artifacts. As I entered the museum I grabbed Percy and Annabeth and directed them to the curator's office.

"Mr. Jackson, young man and lady, I see that you found some artifacts on your trip." The curator said.

"Yes, we found some interesting artifacts I believe you will be pleased." I said.

I opened the bag of artifacts an separated the artifacts into categories. There were thirty silver coins with the picture of the minotaur on them and fifty gold coins with a picture of King Minos on them. Four ceremonial jars with images of Minos and the minotaur. Four gold necklaces, one with rubies, another with diamonds, another with emeralds and the last with sapphires. Lastly, there was the gold crown of King Minos himself. The curator's eyes widened as he saw the crown.

"I can't believe it you found the crown of Minos." The curator said.

"It was an incredible surprise." I said.

"Incredible job, Mr. Jackson. We will be glad to pay you and your companions the agreed upon price, thirty percent of the value of these artifacts." The curator said.

"Thank you!" I said.

"Alright, based on my calculations, thirty percent of the value of these artifacts is $1,267,500.00. Split three ways would be $422,500.00 each." The curator said.

"Yes!!" Annabeth and Percy said at the same time.

"You'll have to excuse my young friends they are pretty excited." I said apologetically.

"I'm sure they are, on behalf of the museum I want to thank all of you for your assistance." The curator said as he handed me the check. We said our goodbyes and left the museum.

"Theseus, this has been an incredible trip, I can't believe we have that much money available for college now." Annabeth said.

"College, right!" Percy said, somewhat disappointed.

"Your going to college Percy, your not blowing this money on something stupid!" I said before Annabeth could say anything. Annabeth just looked at me and then she stared at Percy and smiled.

"Let's get back to the hotel. I have to get ready for my date tonight." I said.

"What date?" Percy asked.

"A date with a certain goddess of wisdom." I said happily.

"Your going out with mom, that's great!" Annabeth said.

"I hope so, but I have some planning to do." I said.

"So does that mean that Annabeth and I are free to go out on our own tonight." Percy said.

"Hades no! Poseidon will be watching both of you." I said.

"Thats not fair, when can we have some fun." Percy said.

"When your eighteen." I said.

I made several phone calls and iris messages while Percy and Annabeth ordered room service and watched some television. When I finished with my preparations, I went into my room and got ready for my date. An hour later I heard a knock on the door.

"Percy get that for me!" I yelled from the other room.

Percy walked to the door and opened it.

"Percy it is good to see you son." I heard Poseidon say from the doorway.

"Dad!" Percy said as he hugged our father.

"Lord Poseidon, how are you?" I heard Annabeth say from the couch.

"I'm fine dear, it is good to see you and Percy together as usual." Poseidon said, I'm sure Percy and Annabeth were blushing fiercely.

"Where is Theseus?" Poseidon asked.

"Here dad" I said as I walked out of the other room.

"You look great!" Annabeth said, I guess she liked my black tuxedo and sea green cumber-bun.

"Theseus you do look great, Athena is going to faint when she sees you." Poseidon said.

"Brother you look awesome." Percy said.

"Thank you." I said.

"Did you get all of your preparations completed?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Yes, I did." I said.

"I best be leaving, I told Athena I would meet her in front of the ballet." I said.

"Your going to the ballet?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes we are" I said.

"She'll love that." Annabeth said.

"I hope so, dad I've got to go. Annabeth and Percy be good and don't make my dad blast you." I said as I smiled and walked out the door.

I left the hotel and took a taxi to the ballet. As I exited the cab I saw Athena standing in front waiting for me. She was dressed in a silver off the shoulder gown that was stunning. The dress was just above the knee. She looked absolutely beautiful she had a diamond and silver necklace that was almost as beautiful as her intense gray eyes. I was speechless as I walked up to her. When Athena saw me her eyes grew wide and she smiled incredibly, I guess I looked pretty good in the tuxedo.

"Theseus, you look incredible." She said.

I finally composed myself long enough to say, "You look beautiful, I never thought anyone could look so gorgeous." I said with awe clearly in my voice. Athena's face became an intense red that made me smile even more.

"Thank you." She finally managed to say.

We entered the ballet and headed for our seats. As the ballet started I couldn't keep my eyes off of Athena. She mesmerized me, she was so beautiful. I think she finally noticed after several minutes. She leaned over to me and said, "Your missing the ballet."

"Sorry its just, your so beautiful." I said.

"Don't make me blush." Athena said.

"Sorry, I can't help it." I said, I tried to pay more attention to the ballet.

When the ballet was over Athena and I applauded. It was a beautiful show. Athena smiled at me and said, "The ballet was beautiful, thank you for taking me."

"It was my honor, my love." I said as we stood from our seats and headed for the exits.

"Now where are we going?" Athena asked.

"Well I have this little night club that has some great Greek appetizers and entertainment, I thought we could go there before we go to dinner." I said.

"Sounds interesting." Athena said.

We grabbed a taxi and took it to the night club. This club catered to American and other English speaking tourists but it had incredible Greek food with a nod to American entertainment. It was karaoke night but I had one special piece of entertainment lined up for us. We entered the night club and sat at a table near the front of the stage. I ordered our appetizers and we watched several decent renditions of American pop songs. We received our food and then I excused myself to go to the rest room at least thats what I told Athena. I had other plans, however. I went back stage behind the curtain and met my two cohorts in this plan, Apollo and Hermes. We prepared ourselves and then the curtain opened. There we were, I had a guitar in my hands, Apollo sat in front of a keyboard and Hermes sat behind a drum set. I thought Athena was going to fall over with surprise when she saw us. She smiled as we began to play 'Soul Sister' by Train. I sang lead vocals, yes I can sing. Athena was smiling and I saw her laugh to herself when she looked at the three of us. As I sang the song and the lyrics sank in I saw the look on her face, she was blushing profusely as a I gestured to her and sang,

Your sweet moving

The smell of you in every

Single dream I dream

I knew when we collided

You're the one I have decided

Who's one of my kind

We finished the song and the crowd cheered and we walked backstage.

"Hermes, Apollo thank you for helping me. Do you think she liked it?" I asked.

"Your welcome Theseus, glad to help." Hermes said.

"I think she did" Apollo said.

"If you ever want to play together again let me know, take care guys." I said.

"Good Luck" Hermes and Apollo said at the same time.

I walked back to our table and sat down across from Athena, I was really nervous. She looked at me and smiled.

"That was great, I didn't know you could sing." Athena said.

"Well I had plenty of practice in the void." I said.

"Your ready to go to dinner?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm starved." Athena said.

We left the night club and grabbed a taxi. We drove up to the top of the Acropolis where the taxi dropped us off at the main gate.

"What are we doing here? Athena asked.

"Well I have a surprise." I said.

The guard at the main gate let us into the Acropolis and we walked to the Parthenon. As we walked into the parthenon in the area where Athena's statue once stood there was a table for two. A waiter and a chef were there at a cooking station preparing dinner.

"You set all of this up?" Athena asked.

"Of course, I wanted my last night here with you to be special." I said.

We ate dinner and talked about the past, the present, the future, and us. We were both smiling at each other throughout the entire meal. It was great! We finished eating and the waiter and chef left us. We were alone in the Parthenon with one hundred candles to light our evening. We walked out into an area behind the Parthenon and there was a small garden with hundreds of flowers that I had setup for the evening.

"This is beautiful" Athena said.

"You really like it?" I asked.

"Yes, how did you do this?" Athena asked.

"I called in a few favors and spent some money of course." I said.

Athena looked around the garden and looked up at the Parthenon, it was aglow in the moonlight. When she turned around to look at me, I was on one knee staring up at her.

"Theseus, whats going on?" She asked.

"Give me a minute and I'll explain." I said and she nodded.

"I have loved you for over three thousand years. My time in the void without you was unbearable but I knew I had to be there in order for us to be together forever. Now that we are together I don't want to lose you again. You are the best thing in my life and your the most beautiful women in the world, in history. Your smarter than anyone I know, your incredible, you make everyday special. I love you Athena. Will you marry me?" asked.

As I said that last part I held out a special ring that I recovered in the cave at the bottom of the ocean. This ring meant more to me that anything except Athena. The ring had waited for over three thousand years for me to find it again. The ring itself was a beautiful mix of gold and silver, intertwined. There was a large gray pearl and a large green pearl in the center. On one side of the band was a an owl made of diamonds and on the other a trident made of emeralds. On the inside of the band was inscribed Athena, my love, my life, Theseus. Athena looked at the ring and examined it. Her eyes grew wide and she smiled the most beautiful smile in the world. Then a tear ran down her cheek and she said, "This this is the most beautiful ring in the world. Where did you get it?"

"I had it made by Athenian craftsman over three thousand years ago. It has waited all this time for this day to happen." I said.

"Theseus, yes I will marry you, forever." Athena said with tears of joy running down her cheeks.

I raised my hand to clear away her tears and said, "Please don't cry, I can't handle seeing you cry." I said.

She smiled and said, "Your such a wimp!"

I smiled back and said, "Only around you my love." I stood up and leaned down and kissed her. It was the most wonderful kiss ever. For the first time in my life I felt complete, whole. It was the best feeling in the world.

**The End**

_**Sorry for the delay in getting this out. I hope you liked this story. Not sure I will have a sequel or not.**_


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